The Heart's Key
by goddess faith
Summary: James Loves Lily? Duh. Lily sneaking around with Snape? Intresting. Sirius falling for Lily? Really. All four of them at a risk for losing their lives? Addicting. Follow them as a love triangle turns deadly fast. Full summary inside.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: This is AU all the way, just so you know. I don't go right with the books, because to be quite honest some of the stuff in the books made me mad. Don't get me wrong, I am a James/Lily ship all the way, but thought I'd have a bit of fun.

Summary: James loves Lily, big surprise, huh? Well, Lily is sneaking around with Snape and everything is fine and dandy until she gets a new Trangsfig partner. Sirius Black. Sirius and James have been best friends forever, but will this stay the same when Sirius starts fooling around with Lily. To add an extra twist, what happens when the love triangel turns deadly? 

Chapter One: Partners 

**Partner List**

**Damien Lawson – Anglina Keys**

**James Potter – Remus Lupin**

**Kolby Ryans – Alex Beckam**

**Stephon Krick – Alyson Davis**

**Sirius Black – Lily Evans**

**Luicuis Malfoy – Vernon Tripson**

The list went on, but Lily stopped right there. Her eyes flew back up one.

"Are you kidding me?" Lily growled in anger, her best friend Shyan jumping a bit and looking at Lily in surprise. She then let her eyes scan the list again, just to see what was so devestating.

"Sirius Black…" She muttered, biting her lip. "How did you get paired with Sirius Black! That isn't fair!" She protested, re-reading Lily's partner assignment again. Lily snapped around to look at her friend, a tad but of anger still left in her emerald eyes.

"Do you think I am happy about this? Do I look happy about this?" Lily pointed to her face which was twisted in anger and horror.

"Come on, Lils. Sirius Black is the hottest guy at this school... ask anyone. Any girl would kill to be in your place." Shyan went on, leaning against the board. It was a known fact that Shyan had been fawning over Black for years now.

"Then you can take my place! Hell, he knows you've had a crush on him since year two!" Lily yelled and turned to start down the hall. Like her little puppy, Shyan followed; though now looking a bit hurt by Lily's harsh words.

"I can't do that and you know it! When I get around him I turn to mush!" She exclaimed. Lily looked at her friend and tried not to winch. She knew she gave her friend a lot of false hope about the whole Sirius Black crush, but the reuth was he would never give her a second glance. Acne covered her face, she had to weigh more than any girl (or guy) in the house of Gryffindor, she was short, and she wore wide glasses. Now Lily wasn't one to judge on looks, but she also knew Sirius Black did.

She sighed and gave her friend a weak smile as she thought about this. It was useless, she couldn't think of anything comforting to say. She sighed, thinking it was probably best for them to drop this discussion now anyway.

"Let's get to dinner. Enough talk about this stuff." She suggested, looping her arm through Shyan's. Shyan nodded and they started off down the hall.

~*~*~*~

"Switch with me!" James demanded before Sirius even got to see the board. Sirius gave him a quizzical look.

"Why?" He laughed, smushing himself between Remus and Peter, who were blocking his view of the partner's board. "Did you get a total loser?"

"Hey!" Remus said defensively already having a look at the list and knowing he was James's partner. "No. He didn't!"

"No. You just got…" James began, but Sirius cut him off with a laugh.

"Evans." Sirius finished, biting his lip a little. He looked over at James and raised his eyebrow. "I don't know, Prongs... this might just get intresting. Evans could be a lot of fun." Sirius teased and James seemed to be the only one who didn't laugh.

"Not funny, Padfoot. Lily is mine and you know it! So switch!" He demanded, making Sirius take a playful step back.

"Down, Fido… here I thought I was the dog." Sirius joked, but when James failed to laugh again rolled his eyes. "All right, come on. We shall go talk to Professor Cartwright."

"Thank you." James smiled in success.

"Who is Shyan Weathers?" Peter asked, not even seeing the group leaving.

"She is that fat girl from Gryffindor," Sirius yelled over his shoulder. Remus elbowed him in the ribs. "Ow!"

"She is actually nice." Remus informed him. "She is Lily's friend." He called to Peter who just now got the message that they were leaving and went trailing after them.

"How fat?" Peter asked, looking at the floor as they walked.

"Like huge." Sirius replied, nodding to a group of girl's as they passed. The girls looked down at themselves. "No, not you ladies." Sirius called to them, but they were too far to hear him now. "Shit..." Sirius sighed, but then shrugged a bit.

"No she isn't! Sirius, you are so shallow!" Remus got defensive again, shaking his head. "You are going to get what is coming to you one of these days."

"Like what?" Sirius laughed. "You know, I don't care. As long as she's fit."

"Come on, mates, cut it out!" James insisted as they all turned into Professor Cartwright's office.

"Fine." Sirius muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Hello!" James called, seeing nobody in the office. They four of them stepped inside, looking around again. What kind of professor wasn't in her office?

"Hi!" A voice yelled back, but still not anyone appeared.

"Professor Cartwright, we have a question and we don't have all day!" Sirius's impatient came out. He had never liked the teacher and her silly jokes. They were always so amateur.

"Oh fine… be a kill joy." The cheerful voice rang and then in a shimmer, a very short stalky woman appeared, sitting on the desk. Sirius rolled his eyes, really hoping James would do the talking. This woman had a thing for Sirius and personally he found it creepy.

"Professor, we were wondering if we could switch partners." James bluntly said, apparently uncomfortable with all the silence.

"Why? Do you have a problem with Mr. Lupin?" She questioned, then turning her attention to James.

"No, ma'am…"

"Does Mr. Black have a problem with Miss Evans?" She asked hopefully.

"No!" Sirius spoke too quickly, not wanting to get her hopes up. "Lily and I are like two peas in a pod."

"Then why do you want to switch?" Her attention now back on James.

"Because… umm…" James bit his lip.

"Because he wants to shag Evans!" Sirius bursted out, but his eyes shot open as soon as he did. He had let his impaients get the better of him.

"Well…" Cartwright cleared her throat. "I am sorry… I cannot grant the switch under that reason."

"I…" James started, his face as red as an apple.

"I think you all should be on your way… I have papers to grade." Cartwright pointed toward the door. Sirius nodded and took James's shoulder and pulled him out of the room, followed by the others.

"Sirius!" James growled through his teeth. "How could you just blurt that out?"

"What?" Sirius sighed. "I am sorry, Prongs. I seriously don't know what came over me. You know how that woman makes me feel. I just wanted to get out of there!"

"Well it just cost me my partnership with Evans!" James huffed, storming off down the hall. Sirius shook his head, knowing James knew better. Sirius wasn't following.

"You would have screwed it up anyway! You always do!" Sirius yelled after him with a short laugh.

James didn't turn around, but kept walking with Remus and Peter on his heels. Sirius turned around, not letting it bother him. He knew James would act like he forgot about it later at dinner.

Sirius ran a hand through his dark chestnut hair and threw his bag up onto his shoulder and started off down the hall.

As Sirius rounded a corner he saw Lily Evans walking with her fat friend… what was her name? He waved his hand over to her.

"Hey, Evans! Hear the good news?" He asked, jogging over to her. He saw her roll her eyes as she folded her arms.

"What, Black?" She questioned, annoyed, stopping and tapping her foot.

"We are transfiguration partners." Sirius smirked, loving the fact that being paired with one of the Marauders was probably eating her alive inside. Especially considering it was him. She seemed to hate him the most... even more than James. Sirius never could figure out why, though.

"Yes… so I saw. Move." Lily replied, rudely, tucking her flaming hair behind her ears.

"Why in such a hurry?" Sirius teased and saw her glance behind him. Sirius didn't turn around, though.

"Hear, talk to Shyan, I have to go!" Lily rushed, pushing past him. Sirius watched her hurry off and round the corner. He ruffled his eyebrows, hating how she always seemed to do that.

"Who?" Sirius questioned, not even realizing there was anyone else in his presence.

"Me…" a soft, shy voice answered. Sirius turned around to the dark haired girl and sighed.

"Ah, yes." He nodded, having that feeling that he had had in Cartwright's office return. "Umm… I gotta go."

~*~*~*~

Lily jumped a little when she saw the tall, mysterious man leaned up against the window sill behind Sirius. She smiled as he motioned for him to follow her. She wasn't even really listening to what Sirius said.

"Here, talk to Shyan, I have to go!" She nearly yelled, afraid she would miss her man, and pushed Sirius out of the way, leaving him and her best friend there alone. She would have to remember to ask Shyan how that went later. Right now, though, all she cared about was catching up with him.

As she turned the corner she didn't see him. She bit her lip, thinking she had missed him. She took off in a hurried walk. All of a sudden an arm reached out from the small broom closet and jerked her in.

"Severus!" Lily giggled as he pushed her up against the door, trapping her there with his body.

"What?" He laughed, breathing on her ear. His hands ran down the length of her body and then back up, bring her shirt up. They stopped at her sides and he began to kiss on her neck.

"Uhhh…" Lily moaned as she tilted her head away from him and his hands began to rise higher.

"Lily…" He whispered her name, again letting his breath tickle her ear. He knew this drove her crazy.

Lily untied the cloak and let it drop to the floor as she started unbuttoning the buttons to his shirt.

"I was in the middle of a conversation." She informed him as he lifted her shirt over her head.

"I noticed… what were you doing talking to Black anyway?" Severus questioned, letting his head drop down to kiss her now bare shoulders.

"Project stuff." Lily sighed as she arched her back as his kissed traveled. He unclasped the bra, flinging it somewhere behind him. Lily laughed a bit, knowing how much he hated the thing.

"No more talking…" Severus demanded as he took one of her newly bared breast into his mouth. 


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: This chapter is kind of slow. It is setting up for some bigger stuff that is to come.

Chapter Two: Drama

"Do you even know what you are doing?" Lily finally huffed, extremely aggravated. Sirius had been sitting there with his eyes closed for the past ten minutes and nothing was happening.

"Evans, when do I not know what I am doing?" Sirius said calmly, but still didn't open his eyes, which bugged Lily even more.

"Well hurry the bloody hell up! I don't have all day!" She growled. "And unless you pick up your wand, you aren't going to be able to do anything with this cup!"

Lily threw the cup to the ground as she stood up. They were outside by the lake trying to work on their project. It was very hot outside and Lily was already on edge by the fact that she had been watching Severus and two other girls that were playing around behind Sirius.

"Evans, what is your problem... pick the cup back up! I am not done!" Sirius now opened his eyes, looking up at her. This was the first time he sounded aggravated as well.

Lily watched as Severus tucked a piece of hair behind the blonde headed girl's ear, smirking. She growled to herself. She never had been the jealous type. She knew the only reason she was now is because she couldn't just walk over there and kiss him or do anything to let the girls know that Severus was hers.

"This is stupid anyway... I don't see why we need partners for this." Lily rolled her eyes. She did understand though. There were three parts of the project. First part was each of them had to transform a cup into something. Anything they wanted, or could, transform it into. The second part was one partner had to transform something on the others' body to resemble an animal. In this case it would be Lily's hair. Then the third part was a paper on how working as a team differed from working individually.

"You are very moody..." Sirius observed, standing up as well. "How about we pick this back up tomorrow? Plus, your fat friend is headed this way and I need to get out of harms way."

"She isn't fat... that is an awful thing to say." Lily scolded, but Sirius just merly shrugged, as be picked up his bag and slung it over his shoulder.

"Cya." He waved and began to walk up toward the castle. He walked right past Shyan, not even looking at her. Lily sighed, letting her mind drift away from what Severus was doing behind her for a minute.

"Hey." Lily smiled at her friend as she finally reached her. "Sorry, you just missed Sirius."

"Yeah..." Shyan nodded, casting a look behind her. Sirius was long gone by that time, though. "How was it?"

"Short." Lily replied. "Hey, lets go get ready for dinner."

"Umm... okay..." Shyan said, but she obviously wanted to hear more about Lily's time with Sirius. Lily felt kind of bad, but she wasn't exactly in the talking mood right then. Lily just wanted to get away from Severus and the two girls. She cast one final look behind her and she almost wished she hadn't. Yep, he was kissing the little blonde scank. Lily felt tears sting her eyes, but didn't let them fall. She would have too much to explain if she did.

_You will pay for that one. _She thought to herself as she looked forward.

Sirius shook his head as he entered the castle doors. He wasn't for sure what just happened, but he knew if she kept acting like she just had they weren't going to get anything done.

"Sirius..." Sirius heard his name called and looked down the hall to see a very frazzled Peter hurrying his way. Sirius sighed, not wanting to deal with Peter after going through that with Lily.

"Hey," he nodded at Peter as he finally caught up with him. "Need something, mate?" Sirius scanned around for someone else.

"Yeah," Peter was breathing rather hard and Sirius wondered if it was just the short run he had over to him. "I wanted to run some new ideas for the Qudditch team past you."

"Ah, talk to James. He is the captain." Sirius waved his hand and began walking. Peter followed, obviously not done with this.

"Yes, but they have to do with you." Peter pressed on. "They might help you get better." Sirius stopped, spinning around. By the look on Peter's face he was already regretting what he had just said. "I meant..."

"Better?" Sirius inquired, letting how aggravated he was show. "You think I am bad, Peter? Do you think you could do better than me?"

"Um... No..." Peter shook his head. "I was just..."

"You know what, Wormtail." Sirius cut Peter off again, a sly smile forming across his face. "You are going to take my place at the next game. Just to show me your skills. I'd like to see a game from the stands anyway."

"What?" Peter sounded and looked terrified. "You can't be serious."

"Dead serious, actually." Sirius turned back around and started off again at a quick pace. He knew that Peter knew better than to follow him.

_Is it piss of Sirius day or something?_ He thought.

Sirius somehow ended up in the owlery. He wasn't for sure why considering he didn't have an owl or anybody to write to. He was just about to turn back and head for dinner when he heard a sniffle.

"Hello?" He called into the dark room. "Is someone in here?" He didn't get an answer, but pushed on with his investigation. He lit up his wand and shone it through the room. He finally found Lily, pressed up against the wall near the window. It was obvious she didn't want him to see her.

"What?" She snapped at him as his light fell on her. She whipped a tear away from her eye and folded her arms. Could she really be crying?

"What's wrong, Evans?" Sirius asked as he stepped closer to her.

"Nothing. Go away!" Lily yelled as she spun around and looked back out the window. Sirius sighed. He was almost tempted just to turn around and walk out, but if James ever found out he had left Lily like this he would flip out. He walked over and joined her at the big open window.

"Did something happen with your family?" Sirius pushed, but this time he didn't get an answer. They stood there for about two minutes and Sirius debated on asking another question.

"Do you think I am attractive?" Lily's voice was soft and low. Sirius had barley heard her at all. He looked over at her, but she was still staring down at the ground below them.

"Uh..." Sirius wasn't for sure how to answer that. He knew he couldn't say no. "Of course I do... has someone told you that you weren't?"

"Would I look better if I were blonde or brunette?" Lily ignored Sirius's question again.

"This is about a guy." Sirius observed. "Evans, don't ever let a guy make you feel like you are any less than anyone else. You are beautiful just being you. You don't need to change a thing."

Sirius thought he saw a slight smile form on her lips, but he was gone as quickly as it had appeared. Lily shook her head.

"I should go." With that she turned around and carefully walked out of the room. Sirius thought about stopping her, but had no idea what else to say to her. He wasn't good with things like that. Crying girls.

After a little while, when he knew she was a ways ahead of him, he left the room too, heading to take a shower and then he would be off to bed. He had all the aggravation and drama he could handle for one day.


End file.
